Floor skeleton for resistance frame

ABSTRACT

A FLOOR FRAMING SKELETON COMPRISING A STRUCTURAL UNIT HAVING TWO LAYERS OF BEAMS FRAMED BY FOUR BEARING GIRDERS. THE BEAMS OF ONE LAYER ARE SUPPORTED BY TWO OF THE GIRDERS AND THE BEAMS OF THE OTHER LAYER SUPPORT THE OTHER GIRDERS.

Sept. 28, 1971 MENS FLOOR SKELETON FOR RESISTANCE FRAME Filed April 7, 1969 I 1u vsn/TUR s JEH/v :WEA/s IUnited States Patent [jA 3,608,259 Patented Sept. 28, 1971 Int. Cl. E04b 1,/24; E04c 3/04 U.S. Cl. 52-263 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A floor framing skeleton comprising a structural unit having two layers of beams framed by four bearing girders. The beams of one layer are supported by two of the girders and the beams of the other layer support the other girders.

This invention relates to a floor skeleton for resistance frame, which comprises at least one structural unit which may be combined side by side with other structural units of the same type, each structural unit being in the shape of a right-angle quadrilateral comprised of two superposed beam sheets framed by four bearing girders which are in turn attached to four corner columns, the beams of the one sheet being in parallel relationship with two of the bearing girders and being supported thereby and the beams of the other sheet being in parallel relationship with the remaining bearing girders and being supported thereby. It is known, notably from the applicants Belgian patent 610,382, to have such a floor skeleton in which the units are of square shape and the four bearing girders are comprised of openwork girders.

This kind of skeleton has many advantages regarding modern building methods which are based on the erection of a metal shell which is ultimately completed with finishing and decorating elements. It enables one to increase the load-bearing capacities of the floorings of already built structures by adding beams after temporarily taking away the ceiling decorating elements.

This invention has for an object a change in known building skeletons, which gives to the engineer more flexibility in the distribution of the structural units Within the limits of a complete skeleton and which may bring a lowering of the skeleton costs. For this purpose, the skeleton according to the invention is characterized by the fact that the unit is of rectangular shape. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention having a size ratio of the small sides to the long sides of the rectangle of 3/5 and less, that pair of bearing girders corresponding to the rectangles long sides are perforated for receiving the ends of the beams which are in parallel relationship with the rectangles small sides while the bearing girders that correspond to the rectangles small sides are not provided with receiving openings and they support the ends of those beams lwhich are in parallel relationship with the rectangles long sides.

According to an advantageous embodiment, the beams of both sheets are integral with one another where they cross and truss-rods are associated to those beams which are in parallel relationship with the rectangle long sides so as to transfer to the short girders part of the long girder strains, in such a way that the loads and overloads will be distributed equally over the four girders of the quadrilateral.

Other details and features of the invention will become apparent from the description given below by way of non limitative example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic plan view of part of a building skeleton according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic section view along line II--II of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic section view along line III-III of FIG. 1, the frontage elements being left out.

In the various figures, the same reference numerals pertain to similar elements.

The skeleton according to the invention is in conformity with the modern tendency for the metal shell of a building structure to be made from prefabricated elements, bv suitable distribution of a number of units which are capable of withstanding the vertical and horizontal strains. These units then form a network of meshes which only have to be covered over, horizontally to form the floorings, and vertically to form the frontages and walls, to complete the structure.

With reference to the figures, it will be noted that the skeleton according to the invention comprises a number of rectangular-shaped units 1; which are comprised of two sheets of beams 2, 3 which cross to form square meshes 4. The beams 2 in the upper sheet are in parallel relationship with the rectangles long sides and they bear on bearing lgirders 5, while the beams 3 in the lower sheet are in parallel relationship with the rectangles small sides and they are supported by bearing girders 6. The bearing girders 5` 6 that comprise the unit framing are attached through legs 7, to corner columns 8.

The corner columns 8 of adjacent units are spaced relative to one another by a distance which is selected chiefly according to the horizontal strains which will be imparted to the structure and they are connected by diaphragms 9 and possible wind-bracing.

The beams 2, 3 of both sheets are made from U-sections 11, 12 which are located back-to-back and which are connected at the crossing points of the beams of both sheets, by means 0f connecting parts which are comprised of square-section tubes 10 which are attached for example by means of bolts 13, each tube 10 joining together the sections 11, 12 of the beams of both layers and also joining together the layers themselves. Practically, the beams 2 of the upper sheet are made first, with those parts of the tubes 10 to be used for the attachment to the lower sheet beams projecting therefrom and said beams 2 being laid on the bearing girders 5 which are of I-section and which are first attached to the corner columns 8. Thereafter, section by section, the lower sheet beams 3 are associated with the beams 2, the ends of said beams 3 being laid inside opening 14 in the bearing girders 6 which are of openwork I-sections.

The height of the openwork girders 6 s equal to the height of both sheets of beams 2, 3 and the ends 15 of the beams 3 which they bear are narrowed from the lower base thereof for introducing the same inside the openings 14 of the sections 6. On the other hand, the height of those bearing girders 5 that comprise the small sides of the unit framing is approximately equal to half the height of the openwork girders 6. Said girders 5 are comprised of I-shaped sections. So as to transfer to the small bearing girders 5 part of the strains from the large bearing girders 6, use is made of truss-rods 15 which pass through the webs of the beams 3, said truss-rods 15 being attached with an adjustable tension by means of tightening bolts, to rods 17 similar to rods 10 which are attached to the upper sheet beams 2, near the ends thereof which are supported by said small girders 5. The lower beam 3 comprises a single U profile 11, 12 where the truss-rods 15 are attached to rods 17.

Moreover, the wind-bracing of the unit is provided by a so-called St. Andrews cross comprised of two truss-rods 18, 19 which extend diagonally from the unit corners between the sheets of beams 2, 3. The suitable spacing of said sheets is provided by arranging spacer plates 20 projecting downwards from the beams 2 on the tubes 10, when attaching the lower sheet beams 3.

For the mounting of frontage elements, to the ends of the upper sheet beams 2 are attached consoles 21, by means of arms 22, 23 which are housed in the sections 11, 12 of said beams.

The units as describedabove are suitable for normal loading (about 300 kg./cm.2) of the skeleton, the size ratio of the short girders to the llong girders 6 of the rectangle being about 3/5. The use for the short 4bearing girders of unperforated sections is also suitable or smaller size ratios of the short girders to the long ones, for example a ratio of 2/5.

For size ratios of the Short bearing girders to the long ones which are larger than about 3/5 or for size ratios of 3/5 or less but in structures which have to bear loads higher than usual, the four bearing girders will be of open-work type.

It must be understood that the invention is in no way limited to the above described embodiments and that many changes may be brought therein without departing from the scope of the invention as dened by the appended claims.

Thus, for instance, the truss-rods 1S may be comprised of at sections which pass under the beams 3. The windbracing may also be provided by the iiooring proper of the structure; in such a case, the St. Andrews cross may be dispensed with.

We claim:

1. A generally horizontally disposed structural unit for buildings, comprising:

(a) a lower sheet of parallel beams;

(b) an upper sheet of parallel beams extending generally perpendicular tosaid lower sheet of beams;

(c) means to interconnect the beams of the two sheets at the crossing thereof;

(d) a first pair of bearing girders extending outside said lower sheet of beams and parallel thereto;

(e) a second pair of bearing girders extending outside said upper beams and parallel thereto;

(f) said two pairs of girders deiining with said upper and lower sheets of beams a rectangular unit with said upper beams and the pair of girders parallel thereto extending lengthwise;

(g) four columns arranged at the corners of the rectangle;

(h) means to attach said girders to said columns;

(i) said lengthwise extending girders each having an upper and a lower parallel lange extending edgewise of an intermediary web with an openwork design; said lower beams being laid inside the openings of said web;

(j) the other pair of girders each having an upper and a lower parallel flange extending edgewise` of an intermediary web; said upper beams being adjacent said upper ange;

(k) truss-rods extending parallel to said upper sheet of beams; means to connect the ends of said truss-rods to the upper beams; a pair of attachment pieces projecting downwardly from said upper beams and means to connect said truss-rods to said attachment pieces.

2. A generally horizontally disposed structural unit as claimed in claim 1 wherein the beam comprise pairs of channelsarranged back-to-back, and include connecting rods extending at the crossing points between the upper sheet and the lower sheetvwith apertures being provided in the webs of the lower channels and in the rods for passage of said truss-rods.

3. A structural unit for buildings, comprising:

(a) an upper sheet of spaced pairs of channel proliles arranged back-to-back;

(b) a lower sheet of spaced pairs of channel profiles arranged back-to-back extending perpendicularly to the channels of the upper sheet;

(c) Said sheets defining an upper horizontal plane of the unit and a lower horizontal plane of the unit;

(d) connecting rods provided at crossing points between the channels of the upper sheet and of the lower sheet whereby the four channels which are contacted by each rod can be secured together;

(e) two pairs of girders; each pair extending parallel to one sheet of channels outside of each sheet;

(f) at least one pair of said girders having a height at the most equal to the distance between the upper and lower planes of the unit;

(g) means to make integral the channels of each sheet with two facing girders inside the space deiined by the upper and the lower plane of the unit;

(h) four corner columns and means to attach the ends of the girders to said columns.

4. A generally horizontally disposed structural unit as claimed in claim 3 -wherein the pair of girders having a height corresponding to the distance between the upper and the lower planes of the unit have an upper and lower parallel ilange extending edgewise of an intermediary web with an openwork design; the channel proliles extending perpendicularly to said girders being inserted inside the openings of said webs.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,911,018 5/1933 Goeltz 52-694X 2,086,669 7/ 1937 Foster 52-488 2,675,895 4/ 1954 Loewenstein 52-656X 2,726,866 12/ 1955 Nally 52-695X 3,058,264 10/ 1962 Varlonga 52-236 3,063,103 11/ 1962 Rylander 52-650X 3,141,531 7/ 1964 Montgomery 52-650X 3,328,931 7/1967 Smith 52-299 PRICE C. FAW, JR., Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

